Five of the Darmstadtians-Ali, Anuj, Bavi, Manoj and Deep had made a trip from Darmstadt to Rome and Venice in Italy over 19th, 20th and 21st December 2010.
Being a student of Architecture, one must have read about Rome and its contribution to the historical development of Architecture. Roman column order; starting the use of concrete in buildings; arcuated construction techniques; town-planning principles; engineering of aqueducts; development of new spaces to accommodate rising necessities, like Basilica and Thermae- all these are few significant contributions made by Romans.
The tourist attractions in Rome may be broadly classified into two groups by timeline. One is the Ancient ImperialRome (753 BC to 4th Cent AD), and the other being Papal Rome comprised of Renaissance and Baroque Architecture. The city is knitted with numerous monuments and piazzas or public-squares. Looking at today’s city-core Rome (the tourist precinct), it appears as if time has stopped after 18th century. The City is scattered with ruins from the ancient times. No modern building or architectural vocabulary is visible in the city-centre. It might be a conscious decision to avoid the visual fight among the New and the Old, and thus, preserve the visual identity of Rome, which it is known-for as a top tourist-destination. How is the old-building stock used in today’s Rome? Is adaptive re-use the only option? As quoted in the novel ‘Angels & Demons’ by Dan Brown: “Let the Angels guide you on your lofty quest”.
COLOSSEUM: If you traveling to Colosseum by Metro rail, you will surely bang on the Colosseum as you get out of the metro-outlet. Personally, I didn’t like this sudden revelation of the monument. I was expecting it to be at the climax of an interesting walk, as it is realized while you approach Taj Mahal. I liked the aspect of the ticket office being hidden behind the exterior wall, as it is not sticking out of the ancient monument (though it was bit difficult to find it out). The steps led me to the upper-most gallery. When I took the first glance into the arena from top, I found it to be surprisingly smaller than my expectations. I may be wrong in perceiving it, but the ruined sloping galleries with large holes in them led to leakage of view. Consequently, the solidity and massiveness of the amphitheatre was not fully realized. The arena was partially covered by a reconstructed wooden floor. Ruined underground chambers were visible. If I could have been at the centre of the stage, I could have imagined 50,000 pairs of eyes staring at me, and thus grasped the monumentality of this amphitheatre.
A single ticket for Colosseum, Palatine Hill complex and Roman Forum is priced 12 EUR, valid for 2 days. An extra audio-guide will cost you 4.50 EUR. Managing an audio-set in one hand and a camera in the other is annoying.
PALATINE HILL: Again the entrance to Palatine hill complex was difficult to locate. Looking at ruins laid on lush green meadows was a different experience, because in most of the ruined sites you get to see stone-paved areas in sepia or grey. I especially liked the sweeping curved lines made by the tree-tops. In Darmstadt, one can’t find any green tree with green leaves on them in this harsh winter. Thus, looking at green trees was a welcome change. Trees here on the hill are special, as the trunks grow tall without having branches, and they have a canopy only at the top. Thus, they don’t obstruct the view of the ruins below, but still gives a sense of enclosure. The signage declaring the name of the monument was an interesting design. It is a plaque stuck on the wall and it looked like a layer of mortar belonging to the building.
ROMAN FORUM: Palatine Hill gives a panoramic view of the Roman Forum from a height. If one doesn’t know what he/she are looking at, it will all seem meaningless to look at remains of some free-standing pillars, parts of walls with arches, plinth of a building that too scattered here and there all over the Forum. The building blocks didn’t seem to follow a planned layout, and have come up in a random order. Also, some buildings will look from Renaissance or later periods, which may distract you from experiencing the ancient world. Especially a monument in white (Monument of Vittorio Emanuelle II at Piazza Venezia) at the backdrop in the direction of Capitoline Hill will look quite out of place.
PANTHEON: A similar narrow street led me to the plaza which houses Pantheon. I liked that the monuments and the plazas in the city are bathed in dim yellowish light. More than looking at the front façade, I was more interested to walk around the building. Surprisingly, I found that the rear part of the rotunda has an addition to it with an arch on it. For a building of this scale, you will expect to climb few steps and reach a raised portico. But the plinth is surprisingly low, and you move only a step up from the level of the plaza, as the building is sunken. While I entered Pantheon, play of light and shadow on the coffers of the dome attracted me more than the walls and the niches. The eye of the dome is still open, and lets the rain come in. I couldn’t witness the light-beam coming through the eye, illuminating a part of the wall, as it was already evening.
PIAZZA NAVONA: I was quite excited as this is the ‘Temple of Water’ which I have read in Dan Brown’s novel ‘Angles & Demons’! But as soon I entered the oblong Plaza, I found the typical Weihnachtsmarkt or Christmas Market occupying the whole of it. I was cursing that why Christmas is round the hour! Though this market is nothing different than those in Germany, but still shops selling paintings were noticeable. We tried to identify who is ‘Ganges’, ‘Nile’ or ‘Danube’ out of the four men in the sculpture of ‘Fountain of Four Rivers’, but in vain.
PIAZZA DEL CAMPOGDIALO: Steps lead you to this raised trapezoidal square designed by Michelangelo, adorned by an oval floor-design. It offers a commanding view of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Hill.
PIAZZA DEL POPOLLO: It’s an elliptical public square, where from three streets originate each spaced at 30 degrees, based on the principle of rond-points. The square was disappointingly empty and the huge space covered only in cobbled stones looked like wastage of space. But the view of three streets departing from a single point into a symmetrical composition looked great. The obelisk at the centre of the plaza heightened the symmetry.
Close to Piazza del Popollo, Spanish steps give a commanding view of the busy-streets at the foot.
VATICAN MUSEUM: The Museum has a bad repute for long queues. Thus we were there at 8’o clock in the morning. While I was standing beside the high Vatican Wall in a long queue, that too before the ticket office was open, I was reminded of my day at Passport Office in Kolkata! The stupid Museum authorities haven’t put up any information-board on ticket prices, guided tours. From time to time I could find groups of visitors following a leader, who is holding a flag (be it an umbrella, or a scarf tied to a stick), and gaining direct entry into the museum-foyer. This was very annoying.
(Entrance fee@ 8 EUR for students; guided tour to Museum, Gardens and St. Peter’s Basilica @ 30 EUR; radio-guide @ 7 EUR)
An audio-guide inside the museum is a must. As with any collection round the world, it started with an Egyptian Gallery displaying Mummies! Sometimes I wonder whether the museums or the pyramids in Egypt have any mummy left in their collection! The collection was full of Roman sculptures which were mostly copy of Greek originals. Besides the sculptures, it was crowded with paintings or frescos on walls, ceilings. Though the stories narrated by the audio-guide explained what I was looking at, I would have been bored if I had stayed for longer than 2 hours inside. I liked the ‘Hall of Constantine’ belonging to Raphael’s Rooms depicting the victory of Christianity over Paganism, best depicted by the ceiling-fresco where a cross is upright at the apse of a basilica and a sculpture of a Pagan God is lying shattered on the floor of the nave. I liked the comparative depiction of Moses and Jesus on the opposite side-walls of the nave of the Sistine Chapel. Though it is a nice idea to accommodate current contemporary art related to Christianity in the galleries, they looked coarse in character. As it is tradition, I too posted a letter to home from the post-office in Vatican City. It felt something special!
ST. PETER’S SQUARE: I had wanted to enter St. Peter’s Square following the secret passageway ‘Passetto’ which was used by Robert Langdon while he moved from Castle of San Angelo in ‘Angels & Demons’! It was originally used by Popes to flee from St. Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately, it is not permitted. We entered the square sideways. To my utter disappointment, a part of the square at the foot of the Egyptian Obelisk was covered for reconstruction work, and a Christmas tree was temporarily placed next to the Obelisk, disturbing the symmetry of the plaza. Again, I was cursing Christmas for being around! I failed to check out the manhole-cover with ‘Ponette’- a face blowing air depicted on it. It was supposed to be at the foot of the Obelisk, as described by Robert Langdon being an ‘Angel of Air’!
As I had read about it, I found that the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica hides itself behind the front façade as one moves from the elliptical plaza to the trapezoidal plaza upto the main entrance. Bernini designed the trapezoidal shape of the smaller plaza to open towards the front façade of the basilica, so that the façade appears to be nearer than what it actually is, to the person standing on the elliptical plaza. Consequently, the undesirable drop of the dome will be of shorter duration. I hadn’t had noticed it, unless I had not read about it. The dome is best viewed from distance, from the bridge over Tiber River (though the river looks like a canal).
If you look at the road leading to the Square, it demands a monument at the end of the vista; as stands the ‘India Gate’ at the end of the vista along ‘Rajpath’ when seen from the Raisina Hill of ‘Rashtrapati Bhawan’ in Lutyen’s Delhi.
I found the interior of the dome to be extra articulated. Every tiny surface was filled up with paintings, multi-shaded stone slabs. As attraction was directed to these smaller elements, I could not grasp the massiveness of the whole composition. I came to realize the monumental scale, only when I found the tiny scale of the cleaning workers on the huge Papal altar and a crane inside the building lifting up the workers!
We made a journey through the Vatican grottoes beneath the basilica which preserves the sarcophagus of the Popes over their tombs below in the Nekropolis. A trip to the very Nekropolis (‘Scavi Tour’) needs to be booked in advance. We didn’t move up to the drum of the dome (Entrance to Dome @7 EUR by lift, 6 EUR if you take the stair).
IN THE CITY: Coming to Italy, one must taste a pizza in the many pizzerias Rome has. The pizzas here are much thinner than those served by Pizza Hut (both in India and Germany). Crusts like pizza are also available as a sheet; you may order them by weight. The city is lively with the lively Italien people. They love chit-chatting, and are not reluctant to share a joke with a fellow passenger in the bus. Every street in Rome will offer you souvenir-shops. Most of such shops or mobile kiosks are run by Bangladeshis, and the products are made in China! Being in Rome you can’t miss Bangladeshis, whether in shops or as hawkers selling umbrellas. As Agra sells mini Taj Mahals in marble, Rome sells mini-Colosseums and St. Peter’s Square, but that too made in China! You can’t miss a painter with his display of art-works waiting for tourists.
The metro-network is short having only two lines. The train stations are not well-kept. Bus service is good, but a tourist has to walk a lot as the tourist attractions are housed in the narrow alleys of the old city centre. I found a bus to stop in between two bus-stops, so as to take in a passenger who waved at the bus to stop. Moreover, at the non-signalized intersections one may find pedestrians randomly crossing the road while the traffic comes to a halt. These aspects entitle Rome to be India of Europe! The only difference is that here pedestrians are given priority to vehicles, unlike in India! And travel by train will make you realize that Italy is Bihar of Europe! Even while the ticket-checker is asking the unreserved passengers to leave the reserved seats, they are in no mood to obey!
A 1 EUR bus-ticket is valid for 75 min. of unlimited travel in buses, and once by metro. A 4 EUR day ticket is valid for all modes of transport within the city-limits. Roma Pass for 25 EUR is an integrated ticket valid for three days, allowing you to use all modes of transport and free entry to first two museums of your choice, discounted entry to other subsequent museums. Every street of Rome
We had to walk a lot upto the Ottaviano Hostel. It was housed in a floor of an old multi-storied apartment. It had no sign-board from the hostel outside, only a name-plate on the door with a bell. The wooden lift car moving us up looked vintage, its maximum capacity only being three! Nicer were the hostel receptionists! They hadn’t had any clue which rooms had we booked (so many ‘had’-s in one sentence!)
